“For far too long, Native women have been, at best, invisible, and at worst, disposable,” Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan said in a statement. “As Native women and girls experienced violence, went missing, or were murdered at disproportionate rates, too often, the cases and root causes went unexamined.” The task force recommends 20 steps to address the problem, including passage of the 2020 Violence Against Women Act. It also suggests the creation of an MMIW office and the expansion of Minnesota’s Safe Harbor Law to include all trafficking victims, not just those who are 24 and younger. The high rates of violence against American Indian women and girls are well known within their community, but the cases were not well documented by the media or acknowledged by public officials until recently, the report said.